MEG COWELL
TO THE SURFACE
My large-scale photographic artworks depict theatrical garments that have been arranged and illuminated while suspended in water. My studio comprises a 1000 litre pool, lined with black fabric, and an arrangement of scaffolding above. I hire the costumes from theatre companies and seek out garments that will translate the moods, emotions and characters that I want to express through my photographs. Through a process of costume puppetry and my use of water as a medium of buoyancy and illusion, I am able create a sense of the garments being inhabited. The water fills the garments up and allows the fabric to move in ways that contribute its own organic force, motion and energy. One of my key inspirations is the ‘princess’ archetype of fairy tales, particularly wherein feminine garments operate as vehicles of transformation, as in Disney adaptations in which the downtrodden character becomes a princess through the wearing of the dress. Although my subjects operate within a dream space of fantasy and illusion, the contrasting nature of the work as photography presents an important double edge; the subject is understood as necessarily present, frozen within the fluid scenario of movement. The camera reveals satiny textures, florid colors and tendrils of fragile underskirt- suggesting an incipient process of osmosis, reminding the viewer of water’s symbolic associations with transformation.
BIOGRAPHY
Meg graduated with Honours in Photography from the University of Tasmania in 2007 and has since gone on to exhibit nationally and abroad. Through a combination of costume puppetry and studio-based photography Meg’s works evoke a rich display of sensual narrative and magical transformation. This year she will take part in the Flinders Lane Gallery (ACGA) emerging artist showcase Exploration 13 and exhibit in a solo exhibition at Dickerson Gallery (ACGA) in Sydney. Meg was short-listed for the 2013 Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award.
More of her work can be seen on her website.